IPL Bulletin For April 5: LSG Edge Mumbai Indians in High-Scoring Contest to MS Dhoni Likely to Lead CSK Again

Add as a preferred source on Google

The Indian Premier League (IPL) season 18 enters the third week on the back of a thrilling contest in Lucknow, and news of a legendary captain's return to the role for one more match.

The BRSABV Ekana Stadium in Lucknow witnessed a high-scoring thriller, which saw the home side emerge winners against one of the five-time champions, who earned criticism for retiring out a rising star of Indian cricket.

Indian T20I captain made his 100th appearance for his team as a few milestones were crossed during the LSG vs MI match, a see-saw battle which was settled by one bowling spell and a couple of good death overs.

Also, a legendary captain may return to the role for one more time in CSK vs DC match. Plus, a regular captain is set to take over from a stand-in skipper after BCCI Centre of Excellence cleared him to keep wickets. Here is a look at the IPL Bulletin For April 5:

Lucknow Super Giants edge Mumbai Indians in thriller

Hardik Pandya's maiden five-wicket haul in T20 cricket and star batter Suryakumar Yadav's fluent 67 went in vain for Mumbai Indians as Lucknow Super Giants held their nerve to seal a 12-run victory.

Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram fifties followed by cameos from Ayush Badoni and David Miller ensured LSG reached the 200-run mark in the first innings. But it was the impressive bowling effort led by Digvesh Singh Rathi that sealed the win for LSG on Friday night.

Digvesh Singh Rathi spell proves the difference for Lucknow

The mystery spinner, who takes inspiration from veteran Sunil Narine, produced figures of 1 for 21 in his four overs, and at one stage gave away just 10 runs in his 3 overs, made the difference with a match-winning spelll that saw him win the man of the match award.

Apart from Digvesh's spell, Shardul Thakur's penultimate over and Avesh Khan's final over also were crucial as the pace duo were given the responsibility of defending 29 off 12 balls and conceded just 17 to take LSG's head to head record against MI to 6-1.

Mumbai Indians suffer third straight away defeat of the season

Mumbai Indians were handed their third away defeat of the season in as many games by Lucknow Super Giants. The joint-record champion, who are usually slow-starters, had suffered defeats on the road to Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans in Chennai and Ahmedabad respectively.

After opening the season with two losses, MI had somewhat arrested the slide with a victory at home against Kolkata Knight Riders, but lost again in an away match. Hardik Pandya's side will now look to bounce back when they host Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their second home match

Tilak Varma becomes fourth player to retire out

Batting at 23 off 25 balls in the run chase, Tilak Varma retired himself out to become on the fourth player to do so in the Indian Premier League after Ravichandran Ashwin, Atharva Taide and Sai Sudharsan.

Ashwin started the trend in 2022 when he retired out for Rajasthan Royals against LSG, while Taide, playing for Punjab Kings, had retired out against Delhi Capitals in 2023, when Sai Sudharsan also retired out, representing the Gujarat Titans against Mumbai Indians.

Experts question decision to retire Tilak for Santner

Mumbai Indians' decision to retire Tilak Varma out for Mitchell Santner, however, didn't go down well in the cricketing circles. Skipper Hardik Pandya said they needed some hits, but former cricketers did not agree with the decision to bring Santner in for Tilak.

Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh called out captain Pandya for not retiring himself out in an earlier match and added that he would have understood if it was someone like Kieron Pollard coming in to replace Tilak, but not Santner.

Current Indian cricketer Hanuma Vihari also took to social media asking for an explanation as to why Tilak Varma was retired out to bring in Santner. The New Zealand all-rounder ended up scoring 2 off 2 balls as Pandya held on to strike and failed to score boundaries in the final over.

Suryakumar Yadav makes 100th appearance for MI

Suryakumar became just the eighth player to play 100 IPL games for the Mumbai Indians. The other players to achieve the feat are Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Ambati Rayudu.

To mark the occasion, Suryakumar was presented with a special customized jersey before the match. A two-time winner of the IPL with Mumbai Indians in 2019 and 2020, Suryakumar is one of only three batters to score 3000 runs for Mumbai Indians in the IPL.

Sanju Samson set to resume wicketkeeping and captaincy role for RR

Samson, who featured as an Impact Player in Rajasthan's first three matches while Riyan Parag took over the captaincy duties, will now resume full-time leadership of the squad, starting with Saturday's match against Punjab Kings at the New PCA Stadium in Mullanpur.

MS Dhoni likely to lead CSK again

CSK batting coach Mike Hussey has said wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni is a likely option to lead the five-time champions in the game against unbeaten Delhi Capitals at the MA Chidmbaram Stadium in Chennai.

Dhoni may step in if regular captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has a sore elbow, fails to be fit for the contest as CSK aim to get back to winning ways, having lost two in three matches so far. Gaikwad was hit on his unprotected elbow during the clash against Rajasthan Royals at Guhawati.